As Jimmy Porter, Ian Toner starts out shrill, but softens somewhat into the role.

By the time, in one final subversion, he is on his knees before Alison (Clare Dunne) rather than, as Osborne would have it, clutching her weeping to his chest in a final reconciliation, we almost feel sorry for this man born too late.

But the chief drama here is that of Comyn and her team’s engagement with the play. They seem to share our qualms about its difficulties and anachronisms. It’s an exercise in looking back at Look Back in Anger, and an intelligent, sophisticated one, but it eclipses the domestic drama.

What is there in the play that might be worth salvaging? Can it be socially engaging now? Does it survive as a work on the timeless theme of domestic abuse? We do not find the answers here. Nonetheless, Comyn succeeds on her own terms.